Thursday, June 28, 2012

Ok, I normally try to come up with orginal posts and not "cut and paste" something someone else did. But this is too good not to share. Someone posted it on Facebook. It's pretty self explanitory and is totally true.

NEW YORK, NY, June 12, 2012 - Whatever happened to songs by Garth
Brooks, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill and Alabama?They have millions of fans.But you hardly hear their music on the radio
anymore.

That’s
about to change!Dial Global (NASDAQ:
DIAL) announces the debut of Country
Gold with Randy Owen, a four-hour, music-intensive show hosted by the front
man and lead vocalist for the iconic band ALABAMA. In addition to its extensive playlist, Country Gold will also feature anecdotes
from a guy who ruled the country music charts during its golden age….and
Randy’s got the stories to prove it.

Randy Owen
is a country music legend, with 43 number #1 singles, more than 75 million
albums sold, 150 industry awards--including eight ACM and CMA "Entertainer of the Year" honors--two Grammys
and 23 American Music Awards.He is also
a proudmember of
the Country Music Hall of Fame.

“I’m
looking forward to visiting with the fans and playing some of my favorite songs
and the greatest songs ever recorded,” says Owens.“Hosting Country Gold is going to be fun and
exciting for me. I hope listeners request songs they want to
hear and feel a personal connection with my show.”

John Paul, Dial Global’s VP Programming, comments “Country
Gold is designed for Mainstream and Classic Country stations.It’s the only place to hear those ‘lost’
country music stars from 1980-1995 that rarely get played on country
radio.Yet listeners still love that
music.So this is a specialty show, a
destination for fans to hear those classics.”

Country Gold with Randy Owendebuts the weekend of July 7-8, 2012 and is available
from Dial Global on a market-exclusive basis.

Country Gold with Randy Owen replaces the
current Country Gold and Rick Jackson’s Hall of Fame programs.The new show features a finely tuned music
mix, contemporary imaging and, now, a superstar host.

Dial
Global produces over 200 news, sports, talk, music and
entertainment programs, services and digital applications, jingles and
imaging.As America’s leading provider
and distributor of audio content to more than 8,500 radio stations nationwide,
Dial Global defines great moments in sports, news and entertainment through our
radio networks which are heard by over 225 million listeners a week. For
more information, visit www.dialglobal.com

Today when it comes to marketing and branding in broadcasting, it is smart when naming anything to check to see if the URL, Twitter and Facebook names are available first.

I have seen so many radio stations name something and have to have some long URL or weird hard to remember twitter name. It seems silly when you can give your product or station a name that's easy to remember without having an underscore or add a frequency or a dot FM/US, or worse DOT NET!!

Even when I am just playing around with an idea for naming something, I check for availability of ALL social media names.

Having a last name like mine isn't easy and for spelling most people butcher it. Most people I know aren't even sure how to spell Bologna either. Since I use my real last name and most things Marconi are already taken, I have done my best to adapt at least with a online brand name that is catchy and "clever" enough to be remembered.

I also find that companies always want to create apps that will cost them tons of money when almost everything they are paying for can be found for free online.

I use all things FREE! My tumblr page looks better and functions easier than most radio station websites. Best of all I can post to it from my phone and connect it to many social networking sites.

For my streaming I use Mixlr.com and a laptop I bought at a pawn store. My music playlists are made on Spotify which with my premium account covers RIAA and other royalty fees. Plus I spend no time uploading music into an automation system and can update my playlists on my phone.

For my podcast I use Spreaker.com. It was created by an Italian inventor (not related to this one). It includes a DJ console where I can upload imaging, news clips, songs or anything else I might need for my podcast. I can login from any computer with a microphone and do my podcast LIVE. When I'm done it automatically uploads to SoundCloud.com which posts to my twitter, facebook and itunes feeds. Best part, wait for it...I can broadcast LIVE from my phone! The audio quality sounds like a marti unit.

For free I can go for 30 minutes or for $20 I can go up to three hours live. I also use Mixlcloud.com to post podcasts with bigger guests because the embed display looks really cool on my blog.

Finally, STOP using YOUR OWN VIDEO PLAYERS! YouTube is the best and yours is NOT better.
So unless you can make things that look and function better than these free apps, you really have no reason to spend $$ on expensive apps that function like a product from the 80's.

WHO I AM

I'm a fan of compelling, personality driven radio. I got bit by the radio bug when I was 13 and have been involved ever since. Today, I'm the Vice President of Programming at Westwood One. I oversee the Denver based 24/7 formats heard on nearly 1700 affiliate stations across the country and around the world. I'm also the National Program Director for the syndicated shows "The Lia Show" and "Country Gold with Randy Owen."
I currently sit on the CMA (Country Music Association) Board of Directors, the Radiothon Advisory Board for St. Jude Children's Hospital as well as the Advisory Board for the Ohio School of Broadcasting.
I served as the Agenda Chairman for the Country Radio Seminar in 2010 and 2011.